The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow Uni

The real Glaswegian working class voice in the independence debate read by thousands, the BBC and other related media, secured the first criminal conviction against one of the seven top cybernats outed by the Daily Mail

It is pretty clear that Anas Sarwar’s campaign has been
dreadful, dreadful at the start and in all likelihood will be dreadful at the
end. The big torpedo was obviously the ‘real living’ wage issue which his
family doesn’t pay their employees. In order to attempt to kill the story, Anas
Sarwar transferred the shares to his children.

I personally thought, how long will it be before someone said
instead of him ‘exploiting the workers’, he has now palmed it off on his
children, it was a flaw strategy in my opinion. When Labour MSP Jackie came out
with the tweet:

“By giving up his shares in the company, @AnasSarwar puts the party and the
country first. Big sacrifice, mark of a true leader #Anas4Leader”.

He transferred the shares to his children!

Some people after reading this tweet might be duped into
thinking that Anas Sarwar just gave away £4.8 million in shares but when you go
into detail, you see his children get them.

Is this the mark of a ‘true leader’ using your kids as a
vessel to cut down avenues of discussion?

Another interesting little gem was
the epic attacks on opponents as Sarwar's people started to blame the SNP, Leonard’s
crew and anyone else they could think of.

It should be remembered that all the ‘issues’ brought up
relate to what Anas Sarwar and his family have done in the past, no one is making up stories.

In what must be another episode of sour grapes, a row erupts
over fears that Unite could help stitch up Scottish Labour leadership for Richard
Leonard. Is there going to be a trade union stitch-up to install the left-wing
Corbyn-supporting candidate?

Well, it seems that Unite had signed up 2,700 members to the
union’s political levy in just two days last weekend which gives them a vote in
the contest. I sincerely doubt that the bulk of the 2,700 members will be
Sarwar supporters.

One thing which is known; is that Asian Labour “members”
have a habit of turning up at candidate selection, selecting an Asian candidate,
never do any activism, never attend meetings and then simply disappear. So, I am not
too bothered that having learned how to ‘’play the game’, some people operate
in the same fashion as Asian members have in the past.

Richard Leonard is a prominent trade unionist although not
as well known as Anas Sarwar who has the higher profile, but it appears that he
is getting more grassroots support.

The Blair Faction or Progress which Anas was deeply
connected to, on the other hand appears to be the unrepresentative minority who
have had their day. In a show of despair, Anas Sarwar has warned that Scottish
Labour activists “wouldn’t take kindly” to any attempt by Unite to return the
party to “a branch office”, this echoes what Johann Lamont said as she departed
the leadership re branch office.

Clearly this is a rattled Anas Sarwar who has
gone negative.

It is Anas Sarwar’s job to present a positive image, he is
failing to do so, his proposed scheme to give every school-leaver a job,
training or education is simply retread bullshit packaged to look ‘new’, it isn’t.

When I read this, I thought back to all the other
politicians who spun the same idea in election after election after election.
To me, this is like Scottish Labour’s ‘knife campaign’ which they rolled out in
by-elections for Holyrood, the ‘campaign’ was a farce as it led to…… nothing,
no private member’s Bill.

That con trick should angry people as Scottish Labour used
it repeatedly, it was a by-election ploy but it also showed that Scotland
is exceptional poor re political talent.

The pool in Scotland
is rather shallow, and has been for some time, can you name a really great
politician?

Chances are…….no!

Hen you look at this contest, I don’t see Anas Sarwar have
broad cross party support or beyond, Richard Leonard has the official backing
of Unite in Scotland,
plus the support of three other major unions: Usdaw, TSSA and Aslef. And if the wind is blowing in the right
direction, Leonard may also pick up Unison.

Leonard has received from parliamentarians, councillors, the
grassroots and trade unions; I don’t think that Anas can claim the same cross
section.

Scotland
needs Richard Leonard to replace Kezia Dugdale who hopefully will not make a
fool of himself if elected, Scottish Labour needs a broad appeal; and Anas
Sarwar hasn’t built it.

If he loses and stands again down the line, he may reflect
on that aspect of his campaign, along with his personal situation, as to his current
campaign, it is just dire!

It seems that the Scottish Labour Party in the shape of chair
Linda Stewart decided to ban people’s right to free speech at Labour leadership
hustings. As many people know the Scottish Labour is sinking, where it was seen
once as the force in Scottish politics, it now trails in third place.

It was entirely wrong to attempt to rewrite history by banned
questions about candidates' finances; it is for members to ask searching
questions of anyone who puts themselves forward to be leader. Last night was a
farce, and rightly branded so, if anything, the stupidity by the chair only
fanned the flames that Anas Sarwar is one of the few.

Lat night the ‘many’ where banned from asking the ‘few’ to
be truthful and open!

So, what was the point of last night’s stage managed event
with allegedly pre-scripted questions?

There was no point, Scottish Labour want people to pay £12
to vote in the Scottish Labour race to decide if Srawar or Leonard should be
leader, so what are you paying for if you can’t ask questions?

Who was the winner last night, by default, it was Richard
Leonard because clearly the chair was in the wrong by her actions.

Questions about candidates' finances were banned at first
hustings amid controversy over the wealthy background of hopeful Anas Sarwar.

Chair Linda Stewart unveiled the ground-rules of the farce,
she said there should be no questions “about a candidate’s marital status,
domestic circumstances, nor pertaining to the candidates’ financial
arrangements”. Anas Sarwar has questions to answer to members about his
decision to send his children to private school and the fact his family’s firm
are not unionised and don’t pay the real living wage.

It seems that being a millionaire in the Scottish Labour
Party has privileges.

The event was a disaster for Scottish Labour which appears
to be attempting to keep the Blair Faction or Progress in control of the party
in Scotland,
to me it seems that if Sarwar wins then Momentum gets their Scottish fight.

Anas Sarwar was quick to jump on a BBC reporter over his
personal life saying he should be talking about policy instead, but this shows
Anas up as a hypocrite as he calls on Nicola Sturgeon to sack Health Secretary
Shona Robison. It seems that Anas is like Marie Antoinette, he wants his cake
and eat it as well.

Richard Leonard, who is being backed by supporters of Jeremy
Corbyn, said he wanted to “reconnect” with the trade union movement if he
becomes leader. Given there is trade union in Anas Sarwar’s family business,
this will get him many votes.

Leonard added:

“I am a democratic socialist motivated by the desire to
change society for the better of the many not the few.”

And to show that the winds of change at least outside the
party favour him over Anas Sarwar, three unions declared support for Leonard.

I don’t know of any trade union in Scotland backing Anas Sarwar or
likely to back him in the future.

So, let’s get right down to it, who do the SNP and the
Scottish Conservatives want as Labour leader in Scotland?

Anas Sarwar!

Anas Sarwar increases the chances of the SNP hanging on to
power because he won’t attract voters back to the party, and if the
Conservatives stand a real chance in 2021, then they need a member of the Blair
Faction in place.

Paying £12 to vote in a contest where you aren’t allowed to
exercise free speech in a party that claims it believes in social justice is a
joke; there are better ways to spend £12.

There comes a time when you should realise that something is
over and just walk away, it seems that Anas Sarwar has reached that tipping
point, question is, does he recognise it.

There is now a fresh Scottish Labour leadership row over pay
rates at Anas Sarwar's family firm; it appears that the Sarwar family don’t pay
the real living wage because it is only voluntary, not mandatory.

In other words, unless compelled by law the Sarwar family
has no interest in paying the real living wage. This prompts a series of questions:

just how ‘socialist’ is the family of Anas Sarwar?

have they ever paid more than the law compels them?

what are the terms and conditions of the lowest paid in his
family business?

In relation to sending his children to private school, Anas
did something rather weak, he sought to ‘share the blame’ by dobbing in his
wife by saying she was partly responsible for the decision.

When in doubt blame someone else, but still take some of the
blame yourself because as a leader you have to stand by your decisions, good
and bad. Anas has rightly said that people should respect a decision made by a
couple “in the privacy of their own home”.

The bit that this falls down is that, Anas is a public
figure, in politics there is such a thing as leading by example, clearly he isn’t
prepared to do this, but then he is a millionaire, he can spend his money where
he chooses.

One other statement which he may regret later is saying:

“The fact is too many of our schools aren’t good enough in Scotland.”

In Glasgow, the Labour Party
has control of the council and education for 40 years, so he has opened up a
can of worms there, now he has to talk about Labour failure in education in Glasgow. Of course, I am
sure he will rope in the SNP Government for 10 years of their failures as well.

The decision by Anas Sarwar to criticised Good Morning
Scotland presenter Gary Robertson, accusing him of focusing on personality
issues rather than policy was clearly a sign he was rattled by having to defend
his decisions and those his family have made in the past.

Anas Sarwar is a centrist millionaire MSP in a party
that was setup by the working class for the betterment of the working class,
although having money and influence to a certain degree in the Labour Party due
to the minority vote, the wider movement wants a Corbyn supporter.

Anas Sarwar had a crack at leadership when he was Johann
Lamont’s deputy, that didn’t turn out well just in the same way that Kezia
Dugdale being deputy to Jim Murphy was a disaster too.

The Labour Party has a slogan which doesn’t help Anas at the
moment, ‘for the many, not the few’; the truth is that Anas Sarwar is one of
the rich privileged few, a multi-millionaire born into wealth, private schooled
and university educated, to make matters worse, he joined the ‘Progress’ crowd
of entitled middle class people who gain control of the party to the detriment
of working class people. The Labour Party ‘Progress’ crowd brought in such
measures as the ‘bedroom tax’ and ‘ATOS assessments’ not the Conservatives.

Although sending his children to private school is something
he will ride out in his leadership struggle, his links to his family firm aren’t
something which can be swept away under the carpet.

Anas Sarwar said:

“One, I’m a minority shareholder in the company. Second, I have
no role in the company. I’m not a director in the company. I have no say in how
the company operates. But I have had assurances from the company that they do
want to transition to a real living wage for all employees”.

Was that discussed round the family kitchen table?

Anas added:

“They too have welcomed the fact that a Labour government
would introduce a real living wage much quicker than the current UK government,
meaning they’d be able to implement it quicker, and also so it’s compulsory on
every company. I don’t care who the shareholder of any company is, I don’t care
which company it is, I want every company to be mandated by the government to
pay the real living wage and not use the market as the excuse.”

His family ‘welcome’ it but won’t pay it unless they are
compelled by law?

Is there any obstacle to them paying the real living wage
for all employees now?

Clearly the answer is yes, have you figured out what the
problem is, it isn’t the law, the problem is the Sarwar family.

One of the lies that is sold by the right wing of the Labour
Party and the mainstream media is that the ‘Blair Faction’ which is now flying
under the title ‘Progress’ is the moderate wing of the party.

It is a lie, Progress or the Blair Faction are the people
who aren’t socialists who have taken up residence in the Labour Party who are
all university educated and from a middle class background.

The Labour contest in Scotland sees two people standing, Richard
Leonard and Anas Sarwar. Anas Sarwar is the much better known candidate,
however his campaign has hit trouble, he is a millionaire, he is private
schooled, he sends his children to private school; the family business he has
shares in doesn’t recognise a trade union.

Just on his family background, he should be ruled out, the
Labour Party of Keir Hardie has been changed, and not for the better, this is
why the party is in decline. The ‘Blair Faction’, the section of the party
which believes in ‘entitlement’ destroyed the party in Scotland; they had lived off the
backs of the working class vote for decades while at the same time failing to
deliver for the people.

The proof isn’t just the election results; the proof is the
utter collapse of the activist base in the party north of the border. Kezia
Dugdale should be the last of the ‘Blair Faction’ ever to lead Scottish Labour.

Labour is a Party that needs to rediscover its roots; and
its roots like its leaders should come from the working class, not rich
millionaires who have their own agenda.

Richard Leonard is the MSP aiming to become the next
Scottish Labour leader, if he wins then perhaps the party has a chance to be
relevant again, if Anas Sarwar wins then Kezia Dugdale leaving makes no
difference, one Blairite replaced by another Blairite doesn’t equal change.

As to Richard Leonard’s claim that the party north of the
border would have faced electoral disaster without Jeremy Corbyn is spurious in
my opinion because the Blair Faction still control the party machine. In the
election, the focus was on one seat that was held by Ian Murray, an anti Corbyn
supporter. In East Renfrewshire, the Labour Party
wrong choose to pump money into Blair MacDougall’s campaign which had no chance
of winning.

Blair MacDougall look like a Corbyn supporter to you?

Richard Leonard is one of two candidates hoping to replace
Kezia Dugdale, the fact that only two people are willing to put themselves
forward tells you a lot about the state of the Labour Party in Scotland as it
stands at present.

Anas Sarwar has declared that he is ready to be First
Minister, well I can tell Anas that Scotland isn’t ready to make him
First Minister or the Labour Party the party of government.

The recent General Election in Scotland saw the Labour Party make
gains, but the important thing is not that the party increased their share of
the popular vote to 40 per cent but that the SNP vote collapsed.

The SNP vote collapsed, if you can’t grasp that then you
really do need to smell the coffee, success based on other’s failure is hardly
anything to crow about. I don’t know where Richard Leonard gets the idea that the
UK Labour leader had “revitalised the party and energised young people” since
taking charge in 2015.

The reason for making this statement to me appears to be
electioneering rather than hard fact, when I did Labour campaigning, the ‘energised
young people’ weren’t exactly there in numbers or had the experience to do a
good job.

Anyone can be an activist, only a few can be really good at
it.

Richard Leonard launched his Scottish Labour leadership
campaign in Glasgow on Saturday; it must have
been a quiet affair as the main event that day was the Yes mob walking about Glasgow having lost three
years ago.

If Anas wins the leadership, then Scottish Labour will not
be seen as viable, if Richard Leonard wins then he needs to chart a steady
course so that the loony left don’t wreck things as they traditionally do.

This election is about a choice but sadly the choice doesn’t
appear to be much different from what has gone before, the fact only two people
came forward is rather telling.

Scottish Labour is supposed to have a leaders programme in
operation, judging by this contest, you wouldn’t know it existed.

Have you ever ‘got into’ youtube in a big way? Most people
use youtube as an entertainment platform, but it is a serious piece of learning
and education, if you know where to look. You can find pretty much anything and
everything put up, from funny vids to serious politics, cartoons to full
movies, hobbyist stuff to professional tuition.

One of the things which I like to watch is documentaries,
they are very educational; one channel is called prison documentaries which
looks at the prison system in America
both federal and county.

In America,
there is a gang system in prison of various factions, one of the factions os a violent
MS-13, this street gang is made up of illegal immigrants from Mexico who are
involved in violent crime and drugs. The situation in America regarding
violent crime is well known as are the people who engage in it. However,
despite knowing of the problem, the situation hasn’t been dealt with until the
arrival of President Donald Trump.

You may not like Trump, but he is different, he is a
President that means to get things done such as tackling securing the US border and
overhauling the current immigration system. Although, he is best known for his
stance on ‘the wall’, a barrier to stop illegal immigration, a piece of legislation
has been passed on Thursday that would make suspected membership in the violent
MS-13 street
gang a sufficient cause for deportation.

As you know, I blogged on measures to strengthen the
European Union before I realised that the political will did not exist to fix
it. Europe is headed for generations of
instability. What is needed is a pan European piece of legislation which
mirrors the American legislation to permanently problem individuals and
criminal gangs.

What has been passed in America is groundbreaking stuff to
be such because criminal gangs like MS-13 pose a national security threat as
they are linked to the Mexican drug cartels.

The House passed H.R. 3697 in response to MS-13’s growing violence
and its ties to Mexican drug cartels. Section 2(b) of the bill makes suspected
membership in a “criminal gang” (including MS-13) sufficient cause to ban for
life a foreigner from entering the United States.

Section 2(c) of the bill makes membership in a criminal gang
or involvement in any criminal gang activity grounds for immediate deportation.

Whether this Bill goes the distance and is passed by
Congress remains to be seen but already the American Civil Liberties Union and
other left wing civil-rights groups, are claiming that the legislation is
inconsistent with due process and other constitutional rights.

If you view the many prison documentaries on the Mexican
gang problem, this would be seen as a no brainer, and the fact that the
Democrats are opposing this is unbelievable, lots of people came out against
Trump, I didn’t, America’s
Democrats aren’t the party that cares for the people.

Dinesh D'Souza makes a compelling case when he argues
against do illegal aliens have constitutional rights.

If you look at 1.30 minutes into the video, you see training
taking place, when the breakdown comes, certain people and groups will be
better equipped. What you are looking at is people who know that the political
elite have failed them and decided that being engaged in their process is fruitless.

Europe needs new leaders, question is where will they come
from, and when will they reset Europe, if it can’t be done by legislation, the
bullet and the bomb seem to be the alternative. Isn't amazing how problems can easily be solved if you get the right type of leaders, people should be angry with the dross we have been saddled with.

Finally, sorry for the gap in blogging been really ill of late and cat sitting, yes, life if full of surprises.

All political parties in opposition cry long and loud about
their commitment to Human Rights, it is one of the standard con tricks to get
elected, once in, their commitment takes a back seat unless you are in a
minority. However, not all minorities are acceptable to them; prisoners in Scotland are a
minority that historically has been denied a vote in elections.

If you give a prisoner their human right to vote, the other
parties then turn on the party advocating it to try to enhance that they are
‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’.

This is the prime reason why change is talked about and
generally not possible. Politics is effectively ruled by the middle class elite
which I have spoken of in the past, the Scottish Labour Party is a classic
example of this problem. As you know,
the tipping point of disaster has been reached by Labour in Scotland and
the election results bear this out over past elections. The ‘revival’ narrative
used straight after the last election about the seats gains is deception, the
SNP vote collapsed and allowed for some seats to change hands.

Scottish politics remains in flux.

We now at Holyrood have what appears to be an exercise in
#fakepolitics, MSPs have discussed the prospect of allowing prisoners to vote
in Scottish elections. In the Scottish Referendum, the SNP wouldn’t allow
prisoners to vote, not on moral grounds but on the grounds that they didn’t
wish to extend to prisoners their human rights in case it backfired on them.

Democracy it seems is only for those deemed worthy.

Convicted prisoners have been prevented from voting in
elections in the UK
despite a series of legal challenges and even as far as the European Court
of Human Rights who have ruled against the UK's blanket ban on several
occasions. The idea that the Holyrood's equalities committee considered
arguments and practical points is bullshit, and as to Committee convener
Christina McKelvie saying the matter merited "careful consideration".

Is Christina McKelvie having a laugh?

When I read that Christina McKelvie is saying this matter
merited "careful consideration", I immediately think this stupid
bitch doesn’t understand human rights; however McKelvie is the only pretend
politician in the ‘pretend’ parliament. Holyrood is teaming with third rate
politicians in a second rate parliament. The parliament is a disgrace, it isn’t
changing lives for the better, it is just another tier of government that
benefits ‘the few over the many’.

The reason for the interest now is that Holyrood is taking
on new powers over the administration of elections north of the border so we
have a ‘process’ where some MSPs adopt the position as being ‘for’ the idea and
the majority then jump on the ‘against’ bandwagon.

If there is an election in the offing, the human rights don’t
matter, the answer is no, keep the status quo, as the SNP who shout they are
pro Europe, the irony is delicious. Pro
European Party which will not put into effective a European Court of Human
Rights rulings, I mean it isn’t like the Court got the decision wrong either in
principle or in law.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie suggested expanding the franchise
in the past, but his bid rejected by MSPs, so here is a question, why didn’t
Patrick Harvie then put forward a private members bill?

On the subject of private members bills, how many MSPs have
actually submitted a private members bill during their tenure as MSPs? I think
that is research which I would like to see carried out because it would better
inform the public about the standard of MSPs were have been lumped with.

Harvie says there was an "absolute requirement" to
revisit the issue, amazing Harvie gets this right but before you get carried
away, there is a catalogue of supporting bad decisions under his belt.

He said:

"It is a point of principle that Holyrood must change
the law to comply with human rights. The blanket ban must therefore be ended. Stopping
all prisoners voting, regardless of the nature of their offence or the length
of their sentence, clearly breaches human rights, and the current position
cannot hold. If we want Scotland
to be a beacon for fairness, and if we believe in rehabilitating offenders, we
must look at all the options, have the debate, and end the ban."

The Prison Reform Trust charity submitted a paper outlining
"a clear and unambiguous case for reform", saying that "voting
is not a privilege, it is a basic human right".

The case for reform is clear, but as many people know being
right doesn’t always matter to politicians which is why this country is so bad,
people need more access to direct democracy because our rights aren’t being
protected. In the past the one of the greatest advances in human rights was
made against the SNP, this is the Cadder Case which ended up at the UK Supreme
Court.

The SNP fought long and hard to deny people human rights, I
therefore don’t hold out much hope for Nicola Sturgeon and her motley crew
getting a grip on this issue. You don’t give people their human rights because
you like them which appears to be the benchmark in Scottish politics, you do so
because they are entitled to them, like doesn’t come into it.